{"id":1367,"date":"2012-04-02T14:25:24","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T18:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=1367"},"modified":"2012-04-02T14:25:24","modified_gmt":"2012-04-02T18:25:24","slug":"interview-with-a-vampire-novelist-kim-newman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/interview-with-a-vampire-novelist-kim-newman\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with a Vampire Novelist: Kim Newman"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the announcement for HWA Vampire Novel of the Century drew near, intrepid reviewer Wendy Zazo-Philips approached Kim Newman, author of nominee Anno Dracula<\/em>, for an interview, and he graciously answered her questions. \u00a0Wendy asked some pretty interesting questions- you can check out his answers below.<\/p>\n

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Interview with Kim Newman, with an introduction by Wendy Zazo-Philips<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if there has ever been a more prolific writer than Kim Newman<\/a>. He is an English writer, journalist, and film critic whose works have spanned over four decades and have earned him many accolades, including the Bram Stoker Award and the International Horror Guild Award. \u00a0In horror fiction, perhaps his best-known novel is Anno Dracula, <\/em>which was followed by Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron<\/em>, and Dracula Cha Cha Cha<\/em>. Anno Dracula <\/em>and The Bloody Red Baron <\/em>have recently been republished by Titan Books. \u00a0One of his latest works is Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles<\/em> , which is a collection of short stories based on the characters of Professor James Moriarty and Colonel Sebastian ‘Basher’ Moran.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0 \u00a0 When you adopt a well-known character like Sherlock Holmes\u2019 nemesis, Professor Moriarty, you must satisfy two groups of readers: the fans (or potential fans) of your work as well as the fans of the character himself. \u00a0Can you tell us more about how these two groups will be satisfied with your new collection Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles<\/em>?<\/p>\n

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Kim: It\u2019s a little presumptuous to assume these groups will be satisfied with the book, but I hope they are.\u00a0 I tend not to think too hard about how readers will respond to the work while I\u2019m writing it \u2013 sometimes in revisions, I\u2019ll change or delete things that strike me as too obvious or too obscure or generally in the way.\u00a0 I did know with this book that there would be a significant percentage of readers who are very familiar with the Conan Doyle stories, and so I salted through a lot of things that they might pick up \u2013 though I assume the general reader gets many of the Holmes jokes too.\u00a0 I did want to give my particular spin to the characters \u2013 and, like the Holmes stories as a whole, it\u2019s a book about two characters rather than one \u2013 but it still derives from Doyle.\u00a0 I decided early on that I wouldn\u2019t contradict anything Doyle writes in order to make things easier for me, though I do point out where he contradicted himself.\u00a0 I know there are people who follow my work, but I also know that I\u2019m unlikely ever to attract the level of minute analysis that the Holmes stories have had over the years.\u00a0 I hope Thomas Hardy\u2019s fans won\u2019t be too upset by The Hound of the D\u2019Urbervilles<\/em> either.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0 \u00a0In the short story \u201cThe Adventure of the Six Maledictions\u201d in Gaslight Arcanum: The Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes<\/em>, one of the pivotal plot points is a recounting (with commentation by Moran) of \u201cThe Ballad of Mad Carew,\u201d which was an actual poem written in 1911 by J. Milton Hayes. \u00a0Was the poem the genesis of the story, or was it (and the Mad Carew character) added later?<\/p>\n

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Kim: Yes, I started with the poem \u2013 though it was a way to get into the recurrent 19th<\/sup> century motif of the cursed jewel or object.\u00a0 The initial idea was that the component stories of Professor Moriarty would all arise from a collision of Doyle\u2019s world with that of another writer \u2013 Zane Grey, Anthony Hope, Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, etc. \u2013 and Hayes certainly isn\u2019t as famous or well-remembered as they are.\u00a0 The poem is obviously influenced by Wilkie Collins\u2019 The Moonstone<\/em>, which is the best of the cursed jewel of Empire stories (Doyle\u2019s \u201cThe Sign of the Four\u201d is another key entry in the cycle), but that takes place a bit before the 1880s\/90s time period of Professor Moriarty.\u00a0 I also wanted to make something of the character of Carew.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0 You mentioned in a previous interview that there are people that will claim not to enjoy reading or watching horror stories, but yet almost everyone has read or seen (i.e.) A Christmas Carol <\/em>and\/or The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/em>. \u00a0What is it about horror stories that draw people to them, and why do you think people are generally skittish about admitting to liking them?<\/p>\n

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Kim: Horror is one of those forms that thrives on being disreputable, and probably needs to be in order to do its job \u2013 which ranges from just being harmlessly spooky to addressing the deepest, darkest material there is.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0There has been a deluge of young adult vampire novels in recent years, to the point that we had to launch a sister site<\/a>, Reading Bites, for those reviews. \u00a0Can there be such a thing as oversaturation of the vampire genre?<\/p>\n

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Kim: As someone interested in vampire fiction, I think there is now such a proliferation of material that I find it impossible to keep up with.\u00a0 In the reissue of The Bloody Red Baron<\/em>, there\u2019s a new novella (\u201cVampire Romance\u201d) which was written partly to address developments in vampire fiction since I last worked on the Anno Dracula<\/em> series.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0 \u00a0You\u2019ve mentioned a couple of times before and in your biography that you used to work in cabaret, but (at least where I\u2019ve read) you never discussed it in detail. \u00a0Did working in musical theater affect your writing process?<\/p>\n

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Kim: In the early 1980s, I wrote plays and musicals and performed with a group called Club Whoopee.\u00a0 Based in Somerset, we appeared at Arts Centres, pubs, a few parties, etc., under the aegis of an organization called Sheep Worrying, which published a fanzine, put on stage shows, prompted local bands, issued a few tapes and records and did other vaguely countercultural (the buzzword of the time was \u201calternative\u201d) things.\u00a0 One of the groups we toured with evolved into P.J. Harvey\u2019s band.\u00a0 We weren\u2019t very successful or, frankly, very good, though we did generate some good material.\u00a0 Some of my later fiction grew out of things I wrote for the stage, and I\u2019d like to work in that medium again sometime (I\u2019ve enjoyed writing plays for radio in the last few years).\u00a0 I certainly grew as a writer while doing this stuff, and a couple of odd things stay with me \u2013 in the musicals I wrote, I was working with a large group of people with a range of ages, talents and commitments but I learned to make sure that everyone in every show had some bit of business (a funny line, a character trait) that let them show off a bit.\u00a0 I did this because I noticed other people didn\u2019t, and that small-part actors (who still had to show up all the time) got fed up with just standing about feeding nothing lines to the few \u201cstars\u201d in a show.\u00a0 Now I try to make sure every little character I write has something going for them, even if it\u2019s very small.\u00a0 I enjoyed the technical stuff: writing to cover scene changes or contriving the action so it all takes place in a single space, directing the audience\u2019s attention to one part of the stage to set up a surprise somewhere else, etc.\u00a0 One of the things that made it fun also led in the end to me moving on \u2013 you have to rely so much on other people, whereas writing prose it\u2019s just your fault.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0I read with delight about the \u201cPeace and Love Corporation,\u201d which was a company of writers that included you, Eugene Byrne, Stefan Jaworzyn, Neil Gaiman, and Phil Nutman. \u00a0What was that like?<\/p>\n

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Kim: Being in a small room throwing jokes at each other, with someone designated to take notes and write up the articles.\u00a0 We mostly wrote humorous pieces, firstly for men\u2019s magazines and then for a short-lived comedy magazine called The Truth, though Neil, Eugene and I fiddled with some fiction projects that didn\u2019t get finished, and Neil, Stefan, Phil and I worked up film outlines that didn\u2019t get bought (I turned some into novels \u2013 Bad Dreams and Orgy of the Blood Parasites).\u00a0 The last real P&L project was Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock \u2013 a parody of rock musicals (music by Brian Smedley) that Eugene and I wrote, with a few scenes and songs involving Neil.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0More and more, we are receiving requests to review independent and self-published works. \u00a0How do you see these changes in the industry, and what do you think\u00a0the future holds for authors?<\/p>\n

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Kim: I still think it\u2019s difficult to reach an audience without a conventional publisher \u2013 they have publicists, etc. \u2013 and I personally value the process of editing that tends to get skipped in self-publishing.\u00a0 I think the future will be difficult, but it\u2019s never been easy for most authors.\u00a0 George Gissing\u2019s New Grub Street<\/em> (1891) is still horribly pertinent about how hard it is to earn a living as a writer.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0 Was going to the library a part of your childhood?\u00a0 Do you still go?<\/p>\n

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Kim: Yes.\u00a0 I spent a lot of time in libraries as a kid, a teenager and in my twenties \u2013 I even went through a staying-out-of-the-cold-and-reading-a-novel-off-the-shelves-in-an-afternoon phase when I was really poverty-stricken.\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid I don\u2019t go these days \u2013 I have more books here than I can possibly read, and even when not using the internet to research I tend to track down and buy reference books for particular projects.\u00a0 I passionately believe in the importance of libraries and think that there\u2019s no real replacement for them.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0If you could suggest one or two books for librarians to purchase to introduce their patrons to Kim Newman, which ones would you suggest?<\/p>\n

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Kim: My novel Anno Dracula<\/em> and my non-fiction book Nightmare Movies<\/em>, both recently reissued in expanded editions.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0The purpose of our website is to help librarians make well-informed decisions about which horror-genre books to purchase for their collections. \u00a0What books written by other authors do you feel are \u201cmust have\u201d titles for libraries?<\/p>\n

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Kim: I\u2019d cite two other books with my name on the spine \u2013 Horror: 100 Best Books<\/em> and Horror: Another 100 Best Books<\/em>, edited with Stephen Jones, which each contain a hundred essays by horror authors on their favourite horror titles and an extensive list of further reading suggestions by me and Steve.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0What projects are you working on now?<\/p>\n

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Kim: I\u2019m doing a new Anno Dracula<\/em> novel (the long-delayed Johnny Alucard<\/em>) and pondering some other long-in-the-works projects, a novel called An English Ghost Story<\/em> and a 1920s schoolgirl adventure called Kentish Glory<\/em>.\u00a0 Just now, I\u2019m writing a new novella (set in swinging London) to go in the reissue of Dracula Cha Cha Cha<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Wendy: \u00a0Is there anything else you\u2019d like librarians and readers to know?<\/p>\n

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Kim: Just that I appreciate them very much.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the announcement for HWA Vampire Novel of the Century drew near, intrepid reviewer Wendy Zazo-Philips approached Kim Newman, author of nominee Anno Dracula, for an interview, and he graciously answered her questions. \u00a0Wendy asked some pretty interesting questions- you can check out his answers below.     Interview with Kim Newman, with an introduction<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[916,8,936,938,181,941,909,432,917,6,937,939,570,940,910],"class_list":["post-1367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anno-dracula","tag-collection-development","tag-dracula-cha-cha-cha","tag-gaslight-arcanum","tag-horror-genre","tag-horror-100-best-books","tag-hwa-vampire-novel-of-the-century","tag-interview","tag-kim-newman","tag-libraries","tag-professor-moriarty","tag-reading-bites","tag-self-publishing","tag-vampire-fiction","tag-vampire-genre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1367"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1396,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367\/revisions\/1396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}